Well, qualifying has happened, and no surprises as to who’s on pole… for the fourth consecutive year it’s Will Power. A bit of a change behind him though, with the AJ Foyt car of Takuma Sato in 2nd, and the KV car of Simona de Silvestro in third… and the Ganassi cars? Dario is 10th, and Dixon 20th.

Hinchcliffe up in fourth looks promising and Vaultier sixth on his debut is very impressive. Can’t help but wonder if Power’s going to run away with it – though it looked that way last year and it all went wrong for him.

Very entertaining race. A lot of big names (Franchitti, Hunter-Reay, Power) hitting problems and failing to get results, a promising debut from Vautier, De Silvestro finally being able to show what she can do, some of the more unpredictable racers like Andretti, Sato and Viso racing cleanly in the pack to score good points, the comedy of errors from JR Loldebrand, the scramble to the finish line, and a first-time winner in Hinchcliffe. Looking forward to round 2!

However, entertaining as it was, there were no big surprises apart maybe from KV Racing going so well. Andretti and Penske are right up there through Power, Castronever, Hinch and Andretti and I expect Hunter-Reay and the Ganassis to catch up quite a lot once we hit the ovals.

As for what’s in store this season, I wouldn’t rule De Silvestro, Vautier, Saavedra and Rahal out for a major surprise later on.

Still, what I did see what brilliant! I have lots of love for Hinchcliffe, certainly my favourite driver in this series! It was a good sight to see De Silvestro mixing it at the front once again, after the shocker that was last season. That Vaultier fellow looks really strong as well, this season looks set to be a cracker! And zero calls for “hold position” or “multi 21″. Hinch for the title!